Ten Ways to Run Out of Money Part 9

This one is a downer.  The latest statistics I could find say that more than 5 million Americans ae living with Alzheimer’s in 2020. Eighty percent are 75 or older. Two thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s over 65 are women (ALZ.org).  A study on the same ALZ.org site from 2013 found that 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. So that’s the really bad part, but it’s probably not actually a surprise.

This is a classic planning problem. There is a potential for a situation that we don’t want, and once it happens, making decisions will be much harder. So, the time to make the decisions is now. If I had dementia, 1 in 3 chances, what would I want? What decisions can I make now? If I can’t make the decisions, who would I like to make them? Does this person know I nominated them on a document someplace as “It?” Have we had a conversation about what I want? Once you get into the process of planning, it’s best to go ahead and have all the conversations while you are in the midst of the process. Restarting the conversations later takes more effort than most people want to exert.

Quality of life vs. quantity of life?

Luck favors the prepared!